Roma people in Italy: Milan introduces “Operation Repeller”, an aberrant ethnic cleansing operation funded by the Government

Milan, May 5, 2009

The European Union considers the integration of the Roma people and a respect of their dignity and fundamental rights a priority. Despite this the city of Milan is getting ready to spend the funds set aside by the Italian Government to solve the so-called “nomad emergency”. This emergency has already been solved through a persecution that has driven away 90% of the families originating from other Member States who had taken refuge in the city over the last twenty years.

Ten million euros: enough money for solving once and for all the humanitarian tragedy the Roma people in Milan are subjected to. These funds would cover the costs of an urgent programme of health care, schooling, employment programmes and subsidized lodgings. Instead the money will be spent on “making secure” the few remaining ghetto-camps (in which racial laws known as “legality pacts” are in force) and installing gates and fences around all abandoned public and private areas (charging the costs of the operation to the owners in the case of private property).

We are talking about an aberrant operation which has no precedent in civilised and democratic countries, because it implies that people living in conditions of extreme hardship and persecution cannot in any way seek shelter under the roof of a derelict building or under a bridge, not even if they are elderly, sick or accompanied by very small children. The “left-wing” politicians have approved this Milanese project, however they suggest turning the abandoned buildings into schools and social areas. Not even they (but when it comes to xenophobia and racial hatred is there any difference these days between “left-wing” or “right-wing” administrators?) have noticed elements of turpitude in “Operation Repeller” which Milan is getting ready to embark on.

“Repeller” is the name given to the poisons, the ultrasonic devices and metal spikes some pest control companies place in strategic points of buildings, yards and warehouses to keep mice, cockroaches, parasites and pigeons away from the area. Not even the Berlin authorities before the Nazi Olympics in 1936 thought up such an aberrant plan: they did resort to driving away (in order to present a more decorous image) the homeless, the beggars and street artists from the city centre and around the sports facilities, but they only did so while the Games were underway. In any case, the funds that will be spent in Milan on this project of horrifying inhumanity will be wasted, thrown away - and not only due to the usual bad management.

The fact is that the Roma people in Milan have become the “bogeyman”, the hysterical reflection of the ethnic hatred that the local institutions have fallen prey to. The few families that remain in Milan, hunted out by the police, subjected to episodes of racial violence and left without any assistance, are forced to do so because they cannot afford the renewal of valid documents (at a cost of 80-120 euros per person, plus the travel costs to the nearest consulate) and the return ticket to Romania (a further 80 euros). There are only a few family units left, people living in terrible medical, sanitary and social conditions, who, if they were in a position to stand up to the institutional persecution, would certainly not need to enter the dilapidated buildings of a Milan which – morally – is crumbling in every sector. Everyone knows that with four wooden planks and a handful of nails the Roma are able to build makeshift huts that can stand up to all weathers.

The truth is, no one from the Roma ethnic group wishes to remain in the city of hatred. A hatred that often gives way to greed: as long as there are a few ill-smelling “gypsies” wearing rags wandering around the Milanese streets, there will be large sums of public money available for “tackling the emergency”. And who wouldn’t find a shower of millions of euros attractive? When all the “gypsies” have left the city, they will have to say farewell to that nest-egg which is a temptation for many.

During meetings at Montecitorio and the Viminale we brought to the attention of the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Gianfranco Fini, and the Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, the Hon. Alfredo Mantovano, how urgent it was to at least help the families without documents or a means of survival to return home. Despite the reassurances obtained, our request was not heeded and some hundreds of Roma citizens, many of them sick, (tumours, heart problems and serious illnesses due to a life of hardship are unfortunately widespread among the Roma who live in makeshift shelters) are prisoners in a city that every day thinks up new cruel measures for wiping them out.

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